Born in Buffalo, NY in 1955 to parents of Czechoslovakian heritage, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts established quite a reputation as a serious, educated law professional. A staunch Catholic with a background of attending Catholic schools during his formative years, Roberts attended Sacred Heart University and Harvard, graduating in 1979 with a law degree. Just out of college, Roberts married wife Jane, a Washington D.C. lawyer.
He started out working as a law clerk for Judge Henry Friendly of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals for about a year before clerking for a then-Associate Justice William Rehnquist of the United States Supreme Court from 1980-81. Roberts served as a special assistant to the U.S. Attorney General during the Reagan administration before beginning his climb in the early 1990s, being appointed by then president George H.W. Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
Robert’s position ended when the Bush administration made way for the incoming Clinton era and he returned to his position as a partner in the law firm of Hogan & Harston. During this time, he also suffered a seizure, which limited some of his activities; however, even during his confirmation hearings for Chief Justice in 2005, no mention was made of the seizures or their cause.
Former President George W. Bush nominated Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2005, following the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. However, after the sudden death of Justice Rehnquist, Bush withdrew the original nomination and instead put Roberts up for the position of Chief Justice. After a speedy round of confirmation hearings, Roberts was approved for the position in September 2005. In fact, at the age of 50, Roberts has the dubious honor of being the youngest Chief Justice on the Court since John Marshall served on the bench in 1801.
According to his financial disclosure from his Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Roberts has a net worth of $6 million.
Roberts’ personal life has been marked with several major triumphs and setbacks. He and wife Jane adopted two children from Ireland in 2000. And in 2007, Roberts suffered another seizure while at a barbecue with friends in Maine. This incident was a bit more dramatic than the previous seizure, causing doctors to release a statement that the cause of the seizure was not physiological, but declining to further elaborate on the causes of the seizures. In fact, the official cause was never released as federal judges are not required to release information about the state of their health to the public; however, medical experts have weighed in with opinions that suggest the possibility of epilepsy.
Roberts is considered a judicial conservative, with one of the most conservative records of all the Justices on the bench. Many of his values and decisions have been directly in line with the core principles of the Republican Party, though Justices are not affiliated with any one political party during their tenure on the bench. In fact, one of the selling points for many conservatives had to do with the fact that Roberts, as a Catholic, is staunchly pro-life.
A. B. Barden
